Campers Get In The Spirit

Creating their own Disney attraction, David and Carla Ruttinger spread out a whole lawn of homemade tombstones and collapsing iron fence, wired up motorized flying ghosts and a creaking, automated coffin, then plugged in foggers, black lights galore.

"Just simple stuff," said David Ruttinger, on vacation at Walt Disney World with his family this week from Inglis, a small town in Levy County.

This time of year, Walt Disney World's Fort Wilderness campground bursts with individuality, even defiance, among visitors such as the Ruttingers who occupy the 409 cabins and 784 campsites.

This, at day-to-day rental sites in one of the most carefully planned and controlled vacation resorts in the world: giant, inflatable Mickey Mouses, black cats, spiders and monsters. A life-size vampire figure. Miles of synthetic spider webs and black and orange bunting. The Ruttingers' spooky graveyard.

During holidays such as Halloween, Disney campers hang out the same range of tacky, inspired or downright-competitive decorations that might be found in any real neighborhood, and people spend their evenings cruising, checking out the neighbors. Similar spreads appear around Thanksgiving and Christmas.

"I did something little, and they did something big. I was so embarrassed," David Ruttinger recalled of the time, four or five years ago, when he and friends first joined the fun and tacked up some Halloween decorations at their campsites. "So it started to get competitive."

The spirit spreads among campers like the Ruttingers who return at the same time every year.

"We've come here for three or four years. We saw everyone else getting into decorating, so we started grabbing things and got into it," said Nicole Covert of Lake City, who's camping with her husband, Michael, and their daughter, Skyler, 7. "It's just for fun."

The vampire figure, which she calls "the Count," stands before her camper, along with an adult-size witch and a few smaller ghosts. Around back, Skyler has set up her own, G-rated Halloween area. "It's for the little ones," her mom said.